Diana spoke for roughly 20 minutes about The Avengers last night at Elstree Studios. She told one amusing story about the snake she 'wore' in Brimstone. Apparently the owner said he's no trouble, he's harmless and he only pees once a week, but unfortunately he's due today. She spoke very fondly about The Avengers and says she is genuinely grateful to it and knows she wouldn't be as successful now without having done it. She admitted to being disloyal to it in the past, but that she deliberately wanted to distance herself so as not to be offered similar roles. She feels this helped her grow as an actress. She said she and Patrick were genuinely fond of each other, and the affection we see on the screen was very real. William Gaunt was also there and was interviewed briefly about The Champions. Angela Douglas was also there. And several other TV stars. But Diana was the guest of honour. Diana left in the interval, but the announcer said that she had told him she is due shortly to appear in a play in New York. I'm really hoping this will transfer to the West End eventually. Rich.

Many thanks, Rich, for your review this event. About 20 minutes for The Avengers - great to hear, given the extensive career of Diana Rigg.
Surprise that Diana decided to tell this story about the snake. I remember when I first read this story and then watched again at the scene from episode A Touch of Brimstone, in some way I felt how much Diana Rigg was tensed at some points. Well, this snake really looks so impressive, in such noisy environment among strangers, you have big chance to expect some kind of unpredictable thing.
So then Diana plans to do a play in New York? How interesting, I'm will trying to find some kind of information about it on the Internet.
I wish, Diana to perform in the West End too, definitely. In general, it is a pleasure to see such an active career of Diana in last time._________________Russian fan-site Steedumbrella.
http://steedumbrella.ru

I was there at Elstree and there does seem to have been some mellowing with regard to Diana having distanced herself from The Avengers. I don't think there was ever any doubt that she had real affection for Patrick and visa-versa. Though this Diana was completely different in her views about the series from the one who wrote the letter to Brian Clemens, that he read out at The Avengers at 50 event some years ago.

William Gaunt, Derren Nesbitt, Angela Douglas, Norman Eshley were all good. Valerie Leon revealed that she was paid £50.00 for her appearance in Whoever Shot Poor George Oblique Stroke XR40, which was more than she received for doing The Saint.

Aimi Mcdonald went into detail regarding her painful brush with a Cybernaut, and her high-pitched voice, which I thought was always put on is in fact her normal speaking voice, plus she sports the same blonde hairstyle that she did in the sixties.

Director John Hough was also there although he did not get involved in any of the interviews, only being mentioned by name by William Gaunt.

Later, nine of the Treasure Hunt regulars went to the bar at the nearby Ibis Hotel, where we found Norman Eshley, who proceeded to tell us what it was like working on The Sweeney and The Professionals.

Very interesting event, Diana Rigg was awesome, although I have to say that Aimi McDonald's recollection of her time on The Avengers literally made us both squirm in our seats. Appropriate that it was held in the actually studio where the Avengers was filmed. Being one of the twelve, who at the end of the evening escaped through the rear of the studio while being chased by security guards was certainly one of the highlights of the night for me. I'm such a naughty thing